Autistic Bro
by Halley the Comet
Summary: Barney's life is already at a low...but when his autistic brother comes to live with him, will things get better or worse?


**Woo! New fanfiction!**

**I was watching a movie about a man, and he finds out he has a brother who is autistic…and that gave me the idea for this. **

**If I get any autistic characteristics wrong in this, I'm sorry. I'm only basing this off what I saw on the movie. I've had to look a lot of it up. **

* * *

Five-year-old Barney sat at the table, giggling uneasily as his older brother, Harvey, tried to eat his cereal. His hand wobbled uncertainly as he tried to get the spoon into his mouth. His other hand twitched.

Barney grinned, thinking Harvey was messing around. '_No_, Harvey,' he giggled, 'like this.' He picked up the spoon from his own bowl, loading it with cereal, and then brought it up to his own mouth. He pushed it into his mouth so vigorously he forgot to chew. The dry cereal slid down his throat and made him gasp. He choked, and then coughed out bits of cornflakes and milk all over Harvey, who just looked at the mess on his shirt.

'Oh, _Barney_,' Loretta fussed, picking up a sponge and dabbing Harvey's shirt. Harvey just sat there, looking blank as Loretta scolded Barney. Barney knew his mom didn't really mean it though. She just fussed over Harvey.

She had told Barney, long ago – probably right from when he was born – that Harvey was special. Barney had felt really excited when his mom had told him that, as if his brother was about to develop incredible superpowers before his very eyes. Disappointingly this wasn't the case. Barney had looked and looked, but Harvey didn't really seem too special to him.

'So yeah, I'd love to.' Loretta went back to the phone, 'but I'd have to get someone to look after the kids. No, that's okay. Yeah…great. I'll see you later.'

* * *

'Hey sweetie.'

'Oh…hi mom.' Barney held the phone to his ear, using his other hand to flick through the channels on his huge TV. 'How are you?'

_Flick._

'Oh, I'm okay, honey. Your cousin Leslie's gotten engaged though. Imagine that!' Loretta laughed at the other end of the phone and Barney smiled. 'And she was always so against marriage. Well, she says she couldn't help it. I've met him though. He's a nice lad. Very smart.'

'That's great, Mom.'

_Flick_.

'How are you, sweetie?'

Barney had noticed that his mom had been calling him a lot more after his breakup with Quinn. 'I'm great,' he said, feeling awkward.

He settled on a film which he knew he could give a running commentary on. The film setting was a woman was on a beach, running towards a guy. She smiled and hugged him. The man turned, gasped, and hugged her back.

'_I love you,' the woman said._

'_I love you too,' the man said._

Within a minute they were kissing.

_Yeah, because that would really happen_, Barney thought gloomily. _You'll kiss her and say you love her and she'll totally reject you and crush your heart underneath her shoe._

'Listen, honey…' Loretta's voice suddenly went serious, and Barney listened properly, muting the TV. 'Your brother's coming over and I wondered…if he could stay with you?'

'James? Sure,' Barney said, pleased. In the bleaker moments of his failed engagement and his rejected love for Robin, he knew his ever-cheerful older brother would cheer him up.

'No…I mean Harvey.'

Barney paused – he wasn't disappointed, but he was surprised.

He hadn't seen Harvey since he had gone off to college. For one moment he wondered if Harvey had forgotten him, but he waved that off.

'Well…okay,' he said slowly. 'Sure…but what about the – place he's staying at? Are they just going to let him go?'

'That's what I was meaning to tell you about, sweetie. They're running out of money. If they don't manage to raise enough money soon, they might have to close down.'

'Oh.' Barney momentarily stopped flicking through the channels, setting down the remote on the side. 'And you want him to stay…with me?' he asked, finally picking it up.

'You don't mind, do you, Barney?' Loretta sounded hopeful.

'Mom!' Barney was annoyed. 'You can't just drop this on me and expect me to go with it. What about work? You know he can't be left on his own. Remember what happened the _last_ time he was on his own?'

'I know honey and I'm sorry…but you have a spare room at your apartment, and I thought it would be better if you spent some time with each other. You haven't seen him in so long. And you know how squashed it is at mine…I could come and look after him for a bit while you're at work. Please, Barney?'

Barney sighed. _I can't believe I'm doing this_. 'Okay,' he sighed. 'He can stay with me.'

* * *

'What do you think you're doing?'

Two ten-year-olds and one eleven-year-old were standing outside. The brown haired boy was standing still, not making eye contact. The other two boys looked at him, edging forward slightly. They were bored and wanted something to do, and seeing Harvey, they mistook him for their age.

'I said, what do you think you're doing?' the red haired boy asked. There was a dangerous edge to his voice, but Harvey didn't pick up on it. He scratched his brown hair, not understanding the tone in the boy's voice.

'What…' he muttered, his hand shaking a little; not really out of fear, but more out of an uncontrollable habit.

'This is our place,' the red haired boy threatened, narrowing his eyes at Harvey.

'Yeah,' his friend, a boy with dark black hair, piped up. 'You go away.'

'We don't want you.'

'Clear off.'

'Get lost.'

The red haired boy stood forward. 'I said, get lost.' His fists were up. There was an angry glint in his eye, but again, Harvey didn't see this.

'I'm…waiting. For someone,' he said quietly, his eyes sliding away from them. It wasn't deliberate, but for some reason it seemed to annoy the red haired boy, who launched himself at Harvey with a swift movement. Using both hands, he grabbed Harvey by the collar and tackled him to the ground. Harvey didn't know what was going on. His body jerked alarmingly. The red haired boy pulled Harvey up by the collar and then banged his head on the ground, hard. Harvey stared up at the boy blankly as a dull pain shot through his head.

The dark-haired boy was telling his friend '_stop it_, _stop it_', but it wasn't helping. The red haired boy had Harvey by the neck, and pulled back his fist – but he was suddenly hit hard from the side.

Barney had left to see if he could find James, asking Harvey to wait until he came back. Then he had seen his brother being attacked. Then he ran. He threw himself at the boy who was attacking his brother, hitting him right in the side. He heard the boy give a moan of pain before rolling over onto his back. He tried to get up, but Barney grabbed him and hauled him up himself.

He wasn't a violent boy but he was protective of Harvey. And Harvey needed him more than ever. Barney clenched the red haired boy's arm, digging his nails into his skin until he yelled out.

'You touch, or even _speak_, to my brother again and I'll kill you,' he snarled.

It didn't sound very threatening to him, but the boy and his friend both looked shocked and ran away. Barney turned and tried to help his brother up. His head looked bruised, but his face was luckily unharmed.

Barney knew Harvey didn't like - or didn't understand - when people hugged, but he pulled his older brother close. 'I won't let anyone hurt you,' he said. 'Promise, okay?'


End file.
